A Hogwarts Professor
by stillplayingpretend
Summary: Professor Aurora Sinistra is the only Muggle-born member of staff, but what happens when she gets a letter to appear before the ministry and prove her magical heritage? One-shot, takes place at the beginning of DH. Written for the Houses Competition Year 5, prompt: "How is it someone as intelligent as you could be so unfathomably dense?"


**A/N: This is for The Houses Competition. Year 5. Team: Badger. Class: Potions. Category: Standard. Prompt: "How is it possible that someone as intelligent as you can be so unfathomably dense?" Word Count: 2112. Professor Sinistra's blood status is never mentioned in canon so for the purposes of this fic I have made her Muggle-born.**

Professor Aurora Sinistra stared down in horror at the letter that the Ministry owl had just dropped in her lap, her breakfast cooling in front of her as she struggled to comprehend what she had just read. The Great Hall was quiet as it always was during the summer holidays before the students arrived, with only the few staff members who chose to remain in the castle murmuring sleepily to each other. Now more than ever, the mood in the castle seemed to be subdued as the teachers of Hogwarts tried to prepare for what would happen now that the ministry had fallen and Snape – _Snape_, the traitor, the murderer of their beloved headmaster, the Death Eating_ scum_, had been put in charge of Hogwarts.

Sinistra's hands shook as she read through the contents of the letter again. She felt as if her whole body had frozen. This couldn't be right. There was no way – this was ridiculous! Her hands gripped the sheet of paper like it was a lifeline as if re-reading the letter's contents over and over again could somehow change what it said. She opened up her mouth and stuttered wordlessly for a moment, before letting out a terrified "Minerva!"

Minerva McGonagall looked up from her morning tea with a frown. It was something of a joke amongst the staff – though Merlin knew they didn't have much to joke about anymore – never to try to talk to Minerva before she had finished at least one cup, and to be safe better wait until she'd had a least two. But something in Aurora's face must have set Minerva on edge, because her expression sharpened and in an instant, she was beside Aurora and taking the letter out of her hand. McGonagall's lips thinned, and then seemed to disappear altogether as she read the contents of the letter:

_Dear Professor A. Sinistra,_

_By order of the Muggle-born Registration Committee, you are hereby instructed to present yourself for questioning as to the nature of any magical power and/or powers that you have come to possess. It has come to the attention of this committee that you are currently employed as Astronomy professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Effective immediately, your employment has been terminated until such a time as you have submitted yourself for questioning and presented the necessary proof of magical heritage needed to continue to instruct students at such a prestigious place of learning. You will submit yourself (and your wand) to the Ministry no later than Saturday, August 8__th__._

_Regards,_

_Dolores Jane Umbridge_

_Head of the Muggle-born Registration Commission_

"Minerva, what am I going to do?" Aurora whispered.

"Come with me," McGonagall hissed. "Now."

McGonagall took Sinistra by the hand and led her quickly out of the Great Hall and into a nearby classroom. Minerva pulled Aurora inside and then immediately vanished the door and began to anxiously cast all manner of notice-me-not charms and enchantments. When she was satisfied, she spun around and desperately clutched Sinistra's hands.

"Aurora, you must run."

"Run?" Sinistra said with tears in her eyes. "Run where? Run to whom? Hogwarts has been my home for thirty years. I have nowhere left to run to."

"You have to try." Said McGonagall hurriedly. "I know some people who may be able to help you. If you were anyone else, I'd recommend trying to forge your family tree, but seeing as you are the only Muggle-born member of staff…"

"Severus will know about me. He will have them looking." Aurora finished for her. McGonagall pursed her lips again. "Indeed. That is why time is of the essence. Go now, get what you need from your quarters and meet me back here."

"But Minerva, this is ridiculous. I've never stolen magic from anyone. I'll just go to this hearing, and try to explain-"

"_If you go to that hearing you will never be heard from again_." McGonagall shook her shoulders frantically. "How is it possible that someone as intelligent as you can be so unfathomably dense? A 'Mudblood' teaching at Hogwarts is something He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named cannot abide! You have to go – now! Meet me back here in five minutes with whatever you can carry. Leave the rest." And with a wave of her wand, Minerva summoned the door back and shoved Aurora out of the room toward the astronomy tower.

Aurora stumbled blindly down the hallway that lead to her quarters. As she climbed the many stairs up to the astronomy tower, she pondered how her life could have changed so drastically overnight. Where would she go now, what would she do? It was an open secret that many members of the staff – including McGonagall – were members of the Order of the Phoenix. Was that who Minerva was sending her to? Would she be expected to join in their crusade? Of course, as a Muggle-born Aurora had no love for You-know-who, but Aurora was not a fighter by nature. She much preferred to keep her head in the stars. But could she do it, in defense of her life? Or what about in defense of her students? _If I've gotten a letter, _Sinistra realized with mounting panic, _no doubt my Muggle-born students have gotten one too. _What was going to happen to them? To Colin and Dennis Creevey, to Justin Finch-Fletchley, to Hermione Granger? What would happen to all the kids that she had had the joy of teaching about the heavens over the last several decades?

Aurora flung open the door to her quarters and ran blindly into the dark room. On the ceiling was a magically projected copy of the night sky over Scotland. In the center of the room sat her mammoth magically enhanced telescope, strategically positioned so that she could watch the rising and falling of the moon above the Forbidden Forest from her picture window. It was always night time in Sinistra's quarters. Dumbledore had told her that since her head was always at least half in the clouds, it was only fitting that her rooms should be too. Aurora bit back a sob at the memory of her kind old headmaster. Now was not the time to grieve for the life she was leaving, that would come later – whenever later was.

Shaking her head, Sinistra made a mad dash for her bedroom. She only really needed a couple of things. Her travel telescope, of course, the galleons she had squirrelled away under her mattress, the photo of her mother from her bedside table, and-

"_Petrificus Totalus_!"

A white light came streaming out of the darkest corner of the room and hit Sinistra dead on. She fell to the floor with a _thump_, completely immobilized. Out of the shadows emerged two figures in dark robes with their wands raised and nearly identical sneers on their faces. Sinistra stared defenselessly in terror as one of the figures walked up to her and gave her a stiff kick in the stomach. Aurora felt the pain immediately but was helpless to do anything but lie there as the two Death Eaters guffawed. Finally, the one that had kicked her opened his mouth and spoke to the slightly smaller Death Eater that was still lurking in the corner.

"You reckon this is the Mudblood teacher Alecto? It's gotta be her, right?"

"Dunno who else it would be." Said a woman's voice.

"Better call the new headmaster then." The male Death Eater waddled out of the room as the other one - Alecto – moved into Aurora's point of view. Alecto smirked at the helpless expression on Aurora's face as she looked around her quarters.

"A bloody telescope, inside. You professors think you're all that, don't you? Well, you're nothing special now. Bloody uppity Mudblood. No more Hogwarts for you, it's off to Azkaban. Can't have you stealing magic from _real_ witches and wizards, can we, you filthy muggle?"

Alecto gave a dark laugh and pointed her wand at Aurora's prone form. "_Crucio!_"

Pain.

Pain like Aurora could have never imagined. Pain was in every facet of her body, in every facet of her being. Pain so complete and so real that Aurora forgot her own name, forgot everything except the desire for it to stop, stop, oh Merlin please - stop-

The pain ended as abruptly as it had come. Tears streamed down Aurora's frozen face as the sound of Alecto's wheezy laugh once again filled her quarters. "Did you like that, Mudblood?" Alecto bared her teeth and gently trailed one pudgy finger down Aurora's cheek. "That was just a taste. I reckon the Dark Lord will let you spend some special one-on-one time with me. Oh yes. And when we're done, I get to play with those Mudblood students of yours. And the rest too, if they don't behave." Alecto gave a sadistic smile "I just hope they let me have the firsties."

_No_, Aurora thought desperately. _No, not them. Please_. And suddenly Aurora wasn't thinking of her own situation anymore. She thought once again of all the students she was privileged to teach. She thought of the first years with their brand-new shiny telescopes. Of the handful of students every year who kept up with her class at NEWT level- not because they had to, but because they, like her, loved to gaze into the world above. How she always had the NEWT students over for tea, and always took the time to write them all recommendation letters after graduation even if it took forever because she desperately wanted to foster that love. And she thought of the students who never made it that far in class. She thought of the thousands of Uranus jokes she'd heard – most of them unoriginal, but a few clever enough to make even her crack a secret smile. And then she thought of them writhing in pain, experiencing the agony that Aurora herself had just experienced. And as she thought, the fear in Aurora began to melt away and was replaced with a powerful, all-consuming rage.

"NO!" Aurora bellowed as she broke through the spell that bound her to the floor. She let out a hate-filled, undignified scream and tackled the startled Death Eater into her enormous telescope. The telescope tittered unstably for a second, and then tumbled to the floor and began to roll towards them. Aurora snatched the wand out of the other witch's hand and scrambled up and out of the way of the oncoming attack. She launched herself onto the stone window ledge and sat there precariously as she listened to the sound of Alecto's screech and the loud _thud_ as the telescope came to a stop at the other of the room. Hesitantly, Aurora poked her head back in and walked toward the noise. She reached down and picked her wand up off the floor, silently slipping Alecto's into her pocket. She walked around the telescope with trepidation and found Alecto, alive but pinned against the wall. Aurora thought for a second that she had been knocked unconscious, but then her piggy eyes flew open and settled on Aurora with a look of pure hatred.

"You _bitch_." Alecto hissed. "Who do you think you are, laying hands on me? You stupid, Mudblood, _bitch_. You are _nothing_, you are _dirt, _you are-"

"I am a Hogwarts Professor." Said Professor Sinistra, drawing herself up to her full height. "And I am done cowering."

Aurora strode over to the window and threw Alecto's wand out into the air. She turned and calmly pointed her wand directly at Alecto's face.

"_Stupify_."

The Death Eater went limp and Aurora walked back to the door to her bedroom and quickly summoned her supplies. She walked purposefully back out into the corridor and down the steps to the empty classroom to where Professor McGonagall still sat waiting. The moment Aurora entered the room McGonagall began to fire off questions rapidly.

"Aurora, what's happened? I heard shouts and noises coming from upstairs. Are you alright? You can tell me on the way, we've got to be going."

"Minerva," Aurora said calmly. "I know you are a member of the Order of the Phoenix."

Minerva's face became immediately guarded and calculating. "Theoretically. What of it?"

Aurora took a deep breath and looked McGonagall straight in the eye. "Induct me."


End file.
